Lost in the Andes we find arguably my favorite Eternal, the friendly Ajak. Ajak has been missing for a thousand years and it turns out he was waiting patiently as disassembled atoms for the arrival of the Fourth Host of the Celestials. He and his human Incan mates function as a ground crew of sorts for the Celestials as the slide in from the vastness of outer space.
Ajak is that typical secondary character in a Kirby epic, the "hail fellow well met". His open demeanor stands in contrast to the more dour Ikaris just as Lightray's did to Orion in the New Gods saga. Circumstances will keep these two heroes apart for most of the story, but I've always gotten that sense from Ajak, that he was like Sersi, an Eternal with a soft spot for humanity.
Ajak rates only three small cover appearances,and he's never really featured. He almost was though.
Here is a mock-up for a projected cover for the second issue of The Eternals. It features Ajak with Ikaris taking a background role for a change.
And here are the pencils for this lost gem.
For whatever reason, that cover was replaced with this one, an action shot showing Ikaris, Kro, and the Damians running for their lives from the impending landing of the Celestials craft.
It's a dynamic cover and works well, but I'd have loved to have seen Ajak get his due, at least once.
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I prefer the #2 cover that we actually got. That's another great Kirby splash page showing Ajak - a Kirby splash page was like a comics version of a movie screen, they always looked amazing to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that. The published cover has more energy and the way the heroes seemed to be almost crushed by the impending arrival of the Space Gods does add some real tension. The Ajak cover is more classically heroic.
DeleteStill it would've been nice for Ajak to get a cover appearance.
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